


Stay With Me

by Anonymous



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:33:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23864575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Hajime can't afford his Reserve Course tuition anymore. Rantaro comes up with a solution.AU where Reserve Course student Hinata is in a relationship with the Ultimate Adventurer Amami
Relationships: Amami Rantaro/Hinata Hajime
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28
Collections: Anonymous





	Stay With Me

"I'm leaving Hope's Peak."

Rantaro fumbled with his pencil. "Wh-what?"

Hajime didn't look at him, but there was a tenseness in his shoulders and a deep frown on his face. "My family can't afford the tuition anymore, so I have to leave."

"Wait, what?" Rantaro gaped at him. "Since when...?"

"I didn't mean to spring this on you, but I figured that telling you now is better than later."

A flurry of emotions coursed through him, but Rantaro held himself from expressing any of it. He breathed in slowly, trying to calm himself before he could say or do anything impulsively. "Hajime," he began slowly, "how long do you have until then?"

"A month," he murmured.

Rantaro rubbed the back of his neck. Hajime was right - better now than later. If Hajime were to bring this up, say, a week prior to his departure, that would have been bad. But him leaving was bad regardless. He ran a hand through his hair, unsettled. 

Rantaro knew that the Reserve Course students had to pay an exorbitant fee for them to be admitted as students of Hope's Peak Academy. Before meeting Hajime, he hadn't thought much of it. The school was intended to be an institution for talented students, after all, so it more or less made sense for the untalented to compensate for being here. However, after getting to know Hajime, after coming to deeply care about him, Rantaro had begun to see the unfair discrepancies between the Main Course and Reserve Course.

He understood that Hope's Peak prioritized the Main Course, but that didn't mean that they had to treat the Reserve Course so poorly. Their living conditions were subpar, their buildings were rundown, and the faculty behaved so dismissively towards them. And why did the Reserve Course students had to deal with such an immense workload? His sisters didn't have to suffer half the amount that Hajime received regularly. 

Yet, despite this, Hajime powered through the difficulties, determined to get the most out of his time here. It was the kind of quality that had drawn Rantaro to him, and eventually became one of the reasons why he had fallen for the boy. But it wouldn't matter anymore...because Hajime was going to leave.

"I know that long-distance relationships don't work most of the time, but...we've been dating for months and I don't want this to be the end of us." Hajime placed a hand over his own, intertwining their fingers. "I still want to travel the world with you, to be with you."

The ache in Rantaro's heart vanished, now replaced by a swell of affection. Rantaro smiled and tightened his grip on Hajime's hand. "I want us to stay together too," he told him. 

A blush colored his cheeks. "Good," Hajime said, eyes flickering away shyly. "Anyway, we have a month left, so we have time to think of ways on how to keep in touch."

"There's video chat via phone and computer," he suggested. He glanced at Hajime's desk. "You made use of that laptop that I gave you, I see."

"Might as well since you won't let me return it. Seriously, stop giving me all these expensive gifts. You're giving me a complex."

Rantaro laughed. "Can you blame me for wanting to spoil my boyfriend?"

"One of these days, I'll expect you to pay for all my things and you'll find yourself penniless," Hajime replied flatly. Rantaro laughed some more at that. Coming from a wealthy family and earning a steady income from his expedition gigs, he doubted that Hajime's premonition would come true. Furthermore, he was bound to exponentially increase his stipend after graduating, making use of his title as a former Ultimate Adventurer. So, if Hajime wanted him to provide for him for the rest of his life, Rantaro could easily do that.

That was when an idea dawned on him.

"Hajime-kun, would you prefer to stay in Hope's Peak?" 

"Huh? Well, yeah... I mean, it's a prestigious school, and every student is bound to achieve success after graduation," Hajime said, looking at him in confusion. "But as I said, I can't stay - "

"That's not true," Rantaro refuted excitedly, "because I can pay for you!"

Hajime stared. "What?"

"Paying for your tuition won't be a problem. As you know, I'm rich enough that the cost won't put a dent in my bank account - "

"No, no, no. Hold up." Hajime slipped his hand out of his to hold both of them out in front of him. "Stop. Don't go there."

Rantaro faltered. "Huh?"

"Look, I appreciate the gesture, but I can't let you do that," Hajime said, frowning. "Having you pay for my education is just too much. There's a limit as to how far your generosity can go."

"This isn't me being generous," Rantaro insisted, leaning forward. "This is me being selfish. I'm doing this because I want you to stay with me."

"No," Hajime repeated firmly. "I want to stay with you too, but...no. I cannot accept it. Besides, even if I take up on your offer, my parents won't be happy about that. They'll think that they'll have another debt to pay."

"But they won't have to." Rantaro stomped down on the increasing impatience welling within him. He knew that Hajime was refusing on principle, and, normally, Rantaro would have relented and let Hajime have his own way, but...he found that he didn't want to give up on this one. He wanted to fight. "It'll be a gift."

"Be it a gift or not, they'll still want to repay," Hajime sighed, "especially for something like this."

Rantaro's mind raced for any other possibilities. "Then how about we disguise it as a scholarship? I can get Iruma-san to hack into the system and make it appear that your tuition has been waived."

Hajime gave him a look. "Waived for what?"

"For being a good student. You're one of the top students in your department, right? Anyway, Hope's Peak won't have to know about this because the Iruma-san can make it so that only your parents are privy to the information; that way, no one will be caught." And for a good measure, he added, "And I'll run the plan with Ouma-kun to see if it holds up. You know that of all people, Ouma-kun is the best person to go to for these sorts of things."

Hajime still wasn't convinced. "Rantaro, I know that your classmates are Ultimates, but they're first-years too. How can a bunch of sixteen-year-olds manage to do something like that?" he asked.

"Don't underestimate the power of Class 77-C, Hajime-kun," Rantaro countered with a grin. 

In the end, though, Hajime remained unmoved. He got Rantaro to reluctantly agree not to go through the scholarship plan, but what he forgot to do was make Rantaro promise to give up on getting Hajime to stay in Hope's Peak. The adventurer loathed to upset his boyfriend, but drastic times called for drastic measures. 

After leaving the Reserve dorms, Rantaro pulled out his phone and called his friends.

* * *

"So, apparently, my parents won the lottery," said Hajime.

"Really? That's great! How much did they win?"

"One hundred million yen." The answer left his mouth in a Sahara-dry tone that Rantaro had to lift his head to see Hajime's unimpressed gaze. "Rantaro, I told you not to get involved."

"No," he drawled, "you told me not to help you get a fake scholarship. And, besides, you don't know if I played a hand in helping your parents win that lottery."

"They never even applied for a lottery - a lottery that's been organized by DICE." The last word was punctuated with a derisive hiss, and Rantaro couldn't help but wince at that. He should have known that Ouma wouldn't be entirely helpful.

"Look on the bright side, you get to continue attending here," he tried to divert.

Hajime bristled. "Rantaro!"

Rantaro chuckled nervously, bringing his hands up placatingly. "All's well that ends well?"

Hajime sighed irritably and massaged his temple. "I knew that you were rich, but I didn't think that you'd be millionaire rich."

Billionaire, but Rantaro decided not to tell him that. He preferred to downplay his wealth if he could. He pulled his arms away from the coffee table and dropped them on his lap, feeling a little hurt by Hajime's reaction. "Is it really that bad that you get to stay here?" Stay here with him?

Hajime's brows furrowed before he sighed again, but this time in resignation. "No. Actually, I'm...relieved." His eyes darted to the side. "I'm only angry because you gave up so much for my sake and that I can't repay you. I...can never repay you enough."

Rantaro blinked in surprise by the other boy's admission. "What do you mean?"

"Rantaro, you always make sure that you have time in your busy week to tutor me. You always wait for me after school, and you always take the time to listen to me and help me go through my problems. You're patient and kind and attentive while I'm - I'm just  _ me. _ I haven't done anything to warrant all of this, and yet you just keep giving."

The words gushed out like a river breaking through a dam. Hajime sat there, visibly frustrated as he glared at his notes. Meanwhile, Rantaro stared at him in flabbergasted silence. When he managed to find his voice, he blurted, "You're angry with me because I'm too nice?"

"Yes!" Hajime snapped. "You're  _ way  _ too nice! I don't understand how someone can be so perfect! I feel like I'm losing my mind whenever I think about how I got someone like you to fall for someone like me."

"P-perfect?" Rantaro sputtered, his cheeks heating up. "Hajime-kun, I'm not perfect."

"Yes, you are. You're incredibly smart and you're the most handsome guy that I've ever met." He was? Rantaro felt like he couldn't breathe. "You have an amazing personality, and your talent is super cool! And, what's more, you keep spoiling me. How can I ever match up with someone like that?" Hajime raved, throwing his arms in the air.

"You don't need to!" Rantaro exclaimed. "I - I don't know what to make of you thinking about me in that way, but what I do know is that you're wrong to think about yourself like that. If anything, sometimes I can't believe that you would settle for someone like me."

Hajime looked at him in disbelief. "Don't patronize me, Rantaro."

"No, it's true! Hajime-kun, you're the most hard-working person I know. Sometimes, I feel like I don't even put in half the effort that you do. And you're always serious about what you do, which is something that I find incredibly cool because I know that I can be a bit too easygoing for anything. Out of the two of us, you're the most mature."

"I'm the mature one?" Hajime gasped. "You're the mature one!"

Rantaro gave him a sad frown. "You don't have to patronize  _ me _ ," he said, throwing Hajime's words back at him. 

"I'm not! Gah, it's like you don't even know your own worth!"

"I know my worth just rests on my money," Rantaro sighed.

"No, idiot. Didn't you hear what I just said? You're perfect, with or without your money!"

"Well, you're even more perfect."

"Don't be delusional!"

The rest of the day was spent each boy arguing over who was the more perfect boyfriend. While Rantaro lost the argument (Hajime was surprisingly skilled at debating), he still won in some way. Hajime was too busy heaping praises onto Rantaro that he forgot that he was supposed to be mad at him for the lottery, not that Rantaro was going to remind him. 

Rantaro smiled. It was more embarrassing than flattering to hear a clinical analysis of why he made the most perfect boyfriend, but, at the same time, he was happy to hear Hajime regarding him so highly. Maybe after he gathered his wits and stopped stammering like a fool, he could do the same for him. As of right now, Rantaro was going to relish in his victory in getting Hajime to stay with him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Companion fic to  
> [Meet the Fam](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23685961) and [With You By My Side](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23673511)


End file.
